It has been debated whether children who develop Schizophrenia have a notable genetic connection or not. Researchers question whether the disease is passed down in familial lines or it is just triggered by an external source, but there is data that show genetic abnormalities in patients who develop childhood-onset Schizophrenia. In a study by C.J. Carter, he concluded “genes related to glutamatergic and in particular NMDA receptor signaling” have been associated with Schizophrenia, the specific genes Carter mentions are “DAOBS, DAOABS, GRIN1BS, GRIN2ABS, GRIN2BBS, GRIN2DS, PPP3CCS, NOS1BS, NOSIAPB,” (Carter). Carter’s study did find altered genes in individuals who developed Schizophrenia, but how strong is the relation between these genes and the development of the disorder. Carter himself even stated that “although many genes have been associated with [Schizophrenia], there is extreme disparity between the individual gene association results,” (Carter). Genetic connections to the disease can be found, but how valid is the connection? Primarily each person has 46 chromosomes, and each chromosome has upwards of fifteen thousand genes- that’s …show more content…
at least 100,000 varying genes. Considering the copious amount of genes each person and the probability of a genetic mutation, if enough trials were completed a common genetic mutation could be identified in patients with Schizophrenia, but the validity of these results are questionable.
In a study completed solely with patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia 10% of the sample “showed cytogenetic abnormalities,” (Addington). The minor relationship between COS and genetic abnormalities does suggest a possible correlation between COS and genetic factors. As mentioned previously although genetic mutations do occur, the vast majority of the population would not show cytogenetic abnormalities. One study showed 5.5% of 25 year olds have genetic abnormalities (“Incidence”). The percentage of genetic abnormalities would be even smaller in children because, as researchers at Johns Hopkins proved, in “one-third of individuals, methylation [changes]” (Johns Hopkins). Although a methylation change is not a direct genetic change, “inappropriate methylation levels can contribute to disease-too much might turn necessary genes off, too little might turn genes on at the wrong time or in the wrong cell,” (Johns Hopkins). Therefore, in the general population, the amount of genetic abnormalities in children would be less than or around 5.5% which is significantly lower than the 10% of COS patients with genetic abnormalities.
So, although other factors can change an individual’s genome and alter it, there is a noticeable relationship between genetic abnormalities and childhood-onset Schizophrenia. Which means COS is at least slightly nature based.
Trauma and Schizophrenia
One nurture based causal factor for Schizophrenia is childhood trauma. The connection between mental disorders, like Schizophrenia, to mistreatment has been concluded in many studies. A study in The Lancet reported how “exposure to multiple types and repeated episodes of maltreatment is associated with increased risks of severe maltreatment and psychological consequences,” and one of the consequences they claimed is “long-lasting effects on mental health,” (Gilbert). Another study published in Child Abuse & Neglect described how “specific types of abuse and neglect, such as physical neglect and emotional abuse and neglect, influenced disability,” (Gil). The connection between mental disorders and mistreatment in children is logical because childhood is noted as a time for brains to develop and mature, and an abused brain would not have the same ability to mature as a not abused brain. But, childhood trauma is not a definite contributing factor for mental problems like COS. First and foremost, childhood abuse is a very encompassing phrase, and the severity and type of the abuse would change the effect of the trauma on the child, and “it is possible that different forms of trauma increase risk for distinct pathological outcomes” (Morgan). So, a claim the childhood abuse directly results in mental disorders because of the wide range of experiences the term includes. Also, not all individuals who are abused as children have problems later in life, if they the prevalence of mental disorders would be much higher. So, although childhood abuse has been described as a “causal factor for psychosis and schizophrenia,” (Read), it cannot be defined something that will cause mental disorders and Schizophrenia in all cases.
Environmental Factors in Relation to Genetic Factors
A connection between the solely environmental factor of trauma and Schizophrenia can be noted, as well as a connection between an individual’s genome and Schizophrenia, but how do the two work together?
There are other environmental factors that can be related to genetic factors that have a connection to Schizophrenia. One example could be “the association of APOEBS with Schizophrenia,” an occurrence in the Chinese population was seen during times of famine when more babies were born with this gene and later developed Schizophrenia (Carter). This association does imply the nature and nurture based development of Schizophrenia because without the famine the APOEBS gene most likely would not have been present in the babies and in all probability the babies would not have developed Schizophrenia later on in
life.
There have been discoveries made in diseases with vanishing white matter that correlation the development of the disorder to stress, and since “Schizophrenia is characterized by widespread abnormalities of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume, a subset of which are already present by the first episode of illness,” (Shepherd) the disorder falls into that category. When a person has Schizophrenia or any other vanishing white matter disease “environmental stressors (fright, fever, or minor head trauma) also markedly affect the progression of the disease, resulting in rapid neurological deterioration,” (Carter). The relationship between stress and Schizophrenia is both nature and nurture based and can be found in children who develop the disorder. The stress itself like the fever or head trauma is an environmental factor while the reason for the stress causing Schizophrenia is based off of genetic factors in this case. A genetic cause for white matter diseases is “mutations in any of 5 eIF2B subunit genes,” (Carter). The stress and the mutation in any of the eIF2B subunit genes would result in a white matter disorder like schizophrenia because “when eIF2B activity is compromised, there may be maladaptive responses to stress,” (Carter). So, the genetic mutation that causes white-matter disorders like Schizophrenia causes an individual to react poorly to stress which can quickly onset the disorder.
In general, the factors that cause Schizophrenia are not solely nature or nurture based, but rather a combination of the both to some extent. Since Schizophrenia is not solely environmentally based nor genetically based, but rather “results from multiple genes of small effect and their interplay with the environment” (Mcguffin), how does the amount of influence genetic factors have compare to the amount of influence environmental factors have? Peter Mcguffin stated “the overall size of the genetic effect is large, accounting for about 80 % of variance,” and then continued by including how “definite environmental factors [are] difficult to pin down” due to the large genetic component of the disorder (Mcguffin). Another claim Mcguffin made was how “it has even been suggested that ‘the environment’ consists entirely of epigenetic or stochastic phenomena that can never be detected by standard epidemiological methods,” (Mcguffin). Although the previous claim may not be completely true because some environmental factors can be connected to the development of Schizophrenia like trauma and other stressors, in many individuals who develop Schizophrenia there is not definitive cause that can be determined as the environmental stressor so there may be some truth to the previous statement. And if Schizophrenia has an 80% genetic cause the disorder would definitely be more nature based than nurture based, but that is only what one source claimed which although the source is a valid academic source one statistic is not enough to prove Schizophrenia is more nature based than nurture based.
A relationship between genetic factors and environmental factors can be seen in the development of Schizophrenia, but some studies have concluded a larger genetic cause to the disorder than an environmental cause.
Familial Relationships and Schizophrenia The relationship between family members and Schizophrenia could show a genetic component in the development of the condition. One common way to test the genetic prevalence of disorders is to do check the occurrence of the disorder in monozygotic twins. Since monozygotic twins share the same genome, if a disorder is solely genetically based both twins will have or develop the disorder. But, “identical twin studies have shown that the concordance rates in schizophrenia” is less than 100% and is only 48% (Carter). So, Schizophrenia is not exclusively genetically determined, but the concordance rate is high enough to conclude that there are some genetic factors that determine the development of the disorder. If the disorder was only caused by genetic factors “first degree relatives – parents and their offspring and siblings – are expected to yield a correlation of about .50,” while in reality first degree relatives of Schizophrenics yield correlation much lower than 50% (Plomin). Another familial relationship that can be relate to Schizophrenia is a mother child relationship. When a child has a Schizophrenic mother although the concordance is less than 50% “maternal mental illness puts children at high risk of developing the same disorder,” (Macfie). The mother-child relationship could be viewed as both a nature and a nurture related factor. Primarily the relationship is nature based because a mother will pass down genes to her child and genetic factors are nature based. The child’s relationship to their mother could also cause the disorder since “mothers are more often the primary caregiver, especially in early development, and more likely to be the sole caregiver in single-parent households,” and if the mother has a mental illness like Schizophrenia the child’s home life would be abnormal with could trigger the onset on the disorder in someone who has a predisposition (Macfie).
In contrast, “two-thirds of individuals with schizophrenia have no affected relatives,” (Petronis). The lack of familial relationships in someone with Schizophrenia does not imply the disorder has no genetic cause. In a disorder like Schizophrenia it does not need to be inherited parent to child to prove some genetic component because the disorder could have been caused by a random mutation.
Familial relationships could also be viewed as the relationship an affected individual has or had with their family. This could be connected back to trauma or maltreatment of the affected. If a family member did abuse a child in any of the ways that is defined as childhood trauma, “sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, and neglect,” that would fall under the category of nurture based causes for Schizophrenia (Morgan).
Familial relationships in association to Schizophrenia for an affected individual with Schizophrenia could be regarded as if the individual has any affected relatives with the disorder and if the home life of the individual was abnormal due to parental mental illness or trauma.